Snoskier16
CEG'er
Last week I had noticed that my headlights would dim and brighten with RPM when I had high beams/fogs/fan/radio on. Typical symptoms of an alternator.
Sunday I was on a two hour trip on the highway in the rain (low beams/fogs/radio/fan/wipers) and I noticed that the tach dipped to 0 and quickly went back up to the correct reading. The car drove fine, so I didn't think too much of it. Further down the road, the tach totally died while all other gauges continued to work. Still drove fine, so who needs a tach! About five minutes later my speedometer drops to zero as well. The e-brake light and the airbag lights came on. The wipers were moving much slower than usual. Obviously there was an electrical issue and I assumed that the alternator had bitten the dust. I continued on for a few miles as the car still drove close to normal until when I tried to accellerate it just felt like the engine wanted to stutter with more gas. This was the point that I turned into the breakdown lane to slow to a stop and all the gauges popped back to life. I watched everything very closely for the remainder of the trip, but there were no issues. The trip back home was simmilar in that there were no faults in the car.
Yesterday I tried to replicate the issue with no luck. My battery is 5 years old and could use a replacement, but the loss of gauges shouldn't have anything to do with that. The car cold cranks nice and strong and the alternator is obviously charging. I'm thinking there could be a loose connection/broken wire somewhere? Any ideas?
Sunday I was on a two hour trip on the highway in the rain (low beams/fogs/radio/fan/wipers) and I noticed that the tach dipped to 0 and quickly went back up to the correct reading. The car drove fine, so I didn't think too much of it. Further down the road, the tach totally died while all other gauges continued to work. Still drove fine, so who needs a tach! About five minutes later my speedometer drops to zero as well. The e-brake light and the airbag lights came on. The wipers were moving much slower than usual. Obviously there was an electrical issue and I assumed that the alternator had bitten the dust. I continued on for a few miles as the car still drove close to normal until when I tried to accellerate it just felt like the engine wanted to stutter with more gas. This was the point that I turned into the breakdown lane to slow to a stop and all the gauges popped back to life. I watched everything very closely for the remainder of the trip, but there were no issues. The trip back home was simmilar in that there were no faults in the car.
Yesterday I tried to replicate the issue with no luck. My battery is 5 years old and could use a replacement, but the loss of gauges shouldn't have anything to do with that. The car cold cranks nice and strong and the alternator is obviously charging. I'm thinking there could be a loose connection/broken wire somewhere? Any ideas?